Bills Unlikely To Hire Brad Childress As OC
The Bills’ search for an offensive coordinator is seemingly down to one known candidate. While Greg Olson and Chiefs co-offensive coordinator Brad Childress were the reported front-runners for the job as of Sunday, it now appears the latter is no longer in contention, according to the Buffalo News’ Vic Carucci (Twitter link).
It’s unclear whether the Bills are honing in on Olson, thereby leading to a lack of interest in Childress, or if Childress declined any overtures from the club. Either way, Olson will interview with Buffalo on Thursday as it seeks a replacement for ex-offensive coordinator and now-Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn.
The Bills’ new sideline leader, Sean McDermott, has already tabbed Leslie Frazier as his defensive coordinator. Now, with Childress and newly minted Broncos assistant Mike McCoy out of the running, Olson looks to be in the lead to serve as McDermott’s offensive chief. Olson last worked as the O-coordinator in Jacksonville, which fired him in October.
Kansas City, meanwhile, now appears poised to keep the tandem of Childress and Matt Nagy intact. Nagy would have been in line to become the Chiefs’ sole offensive coordinator had Childress gone to the Bills. Along with head coach Andy Reid, Childress and Nagy guided KC’s offense to a 13th-place DVOA ranking in 2016.
Aaron Williams Intends To Keep Playing
- Bills safety Aaron Williams has dealt with mulitple neck injuries, but his dad told John Wawrow of the Associated Press that the former second-rounder intends to keep playing. “He’s leaning toward coming back,” Anthony Williams said. “We’ll take it slow and go from there.” The 26-year-old has been productive when he’s been on the field, but he’s been limited to only 10 games over the past two seasons.
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Bills To Interview Greg Olson For OC Job
Greg Olson has a chance to land on his feet quickly despite being dismissed from his previous position midway through the season. The Bills are interviewing the former Jaguars OC, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter).
Buffalo is interviewing Olson for its OC position. A report emerging Sunday pegged Olson and Chiefs co-offensive coordinator Brad Childress as the frontrunners for this job. The 53-year-old assistant is gunning for his sixth OC job after having worked with the Lions, Rams, Buccaneers, Raiders and Jaguars since 2004. After hiring Leslie Frazier to run his defense, Sean McDermott looks to be making a concerted effort to surround himself with experience at the coordinator spots.
The Jags fired Olson this season, which comprised the second year of his second stint with the team, after the offense sputtered compared to its 2015 performance. At the time of Olson’s dismissal, the team ranked 28th in passing DVOA. Jacksonville finished 3-13 in one of the more disappointing seasons in franchise history, but the coaches in charge have either been hired or retained as coordinators or are deep in the running for such a position.
Gus Bradley is the priority candidate to latch on with the Chargers as DC, and the Jaguars retained both DC Todd Wash and OC Nathaniel Hackett, whom they promoted to fill Olson’s position. Mike McCoy previously resided as the Bills’ frontrunner here, but the Broncos hired him back as OC, inducing a more expansive search.
Brad Childress, Greg Olson Are Bills’ Top OC Candidates
As new Bills head coach Sean McDermott continues to flesh out his staff, several names have emerged as top candidates for Buffalo’s offensive coordinator position. As Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets, Chiefs co-offensive coordinator Brad Childress is on McDermott’s short list, as is former Jaguars offensive coordinator Greg Olson.
Childress, who began his coaching career back in 1978 at the University of Illinois, served as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator from 2003 to 2005 before becoming head coach of the Vikings. He returned to an offensive coordinator role for the Browns in 2012, and he has been a part of Kansas City’s staff since 2013. He was promoted to the co-offensive coordinator position earlier this year, along with Matt Nagy, although he was apparently prepared to retire prior to the promotion (he was also a candidate to reprise his role as Philadelphia’s OC after Doug Pederson was named the Eagles’ new head coach last year).
If Childress does depart, Rapoport tweets that Nagy would become the Chiefs’ full-time OC.
Olson served as the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator from 2015 through the first part of 2016 before he was fired in late October. At the time of Olson’s dismissal, Jacksonville’s passing game ranked 28th in DVOA and third-year quarterback Blake Bortles was showing signs of regression. Olson, though, has acted as play-caller for a number of NFL teams, including the Lions, Rams, Buccaneers, and Raiders.
We had previously heard that McDermott was targeting Mike McCoy or Norv Turner as the Bills’ next OC, but McCoy was just hired by the Broncos. It appears the young, first-time head coach is determined to surround himself with assistants that have considerable coaching experience, as evidenced by his offensive coordinator candidates and by the fact that he has already hired Leslie Frazier as his defensive coordinator.
Bills Hire DL Coach Mike Waufle
- The Bills announced that they’ve hired Mike Waufle to serve as the club’s new defensive line coach. Under Waufle’s direction, the 2016 Rams defensive line ranked first against the run, according to Football Outsiders‘ adjusted line yards metric. Additionally, the Bills have released former DC Dennis Thurman and OL coach Aaron Kromer — both of whom were hired by ex-head coach Rex Ryan — from their respective contracts, per Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (Twitter links).
- Former Michigan running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley is joining the Jaguars staff, likely in the same capacity, tweets Alex Marvez of SiriusXM NFL Radio. Jacksonville has already announced that several members of their offensive coaching staff — including play-caller Nathaniel Hackett — will remain in place under new head coach Doug Marrone, but the club has been silent of the fate of current RBs coach Kelly Skipper. Wheatley, who was under consideration for Western Michigan’s head coaching job, last coached in the NFL from 2013-14 with the Bills.
Doug Whaley Keeping Control Over 53-Man Roster
At the outset of the Bills’ head coaching search earlier this month, general manager Doug Whaley was open to relinquishing control over the team’s 53-man roster to Rex Ryan‘s successor. It turns out Whaley will continue to oversee the roster in 2017, Year 1 of the Sean McDermott era, the rookie head coach announced at his introductory press conference Friday. “Doug has control of the 53,” said McDermott, who added he’s “very comfortable with the situation” (via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com).
Bills Announce Several Hirings
- Along with officially hiring Leslie Frazier as their new defensive coordinator, the Bills announced the additions of Juan Castillo (offensive line coach/run game coordinator) and Bob Babich (linebackers) to their coaching staff Friday. They’ll also retain special teams coach Danny Crossman for a fifth season. Castillo, who spent the past four years with the Ravens, was previously a longtime staff member in Philadelphia – where he became familiar with new Bills head coach Sean McDermott. Babich coached the Chargers’ linebackers this past season, which came after a three-year run as the Jaguars’ defensive coordinator.
Pegula: "No Truth To This Dysfunctional Talk"
It hasn’t been the best two-to-three weeks for the Bills organization. The team fired Rex Ryan in late December, and general manager Doug Whaley held a subsequent news conference that left some questioning his competence. Then there’s the whole Tyrod Taylor fiasco, as the organization could potentially be stuck with the quarterback’s $27.5MM salary.
Following the hiring of Sean McDermott as their new head coach, Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula made it clear that their organization is not dysfunctional.
“There’s no foundation, no truth to this dysfunctional talk. I consider it an insult to our organization and the Bills and the good people with the Sabres. They can’t be real happy to hear that.”
Bills Hire Leslie Frazier As DC
The Bills moved quickly to bring in their next defensive coordinator, going with a high-profile assistant in Leslie Frazier, Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com reports.
Frazier’s name surfaced as a candidate to head up Sean McDermott‘s defense earlier tonight, and the Ravens’ defensive backs coach will transition back into a role with which he’s quite familiar. The 57-year-old coach has served as DC for the Bengals, Vikings and Buccaneers, with those roles sandwiching his HC tenure in Minnesota.
Frazier and Panthers linebackers coach Al Holcomb represented the primary assistants the Bills considered for this position. McDermott and Frazier have history after each spent time on Andy Reid‘s staff. Frazier served as DBs coach from 1999-2002 in Philadelphia while McDermott was breaking into the NFL as a scout.
McDermott broke into the coaching ranks midway through Frazier’s Eagles tenure, and the duo will now be tasked with repairing a unit Rex and Rob Ryan couldn’t elevate into an upper-echelon group. The Bills finished with the 19th-ranked defense in each of the past two seasons, representing a drop from their Jim Schwartz-led defense’s No. 4 ranking in 2014. Frazier and McDermott could well move this group back to a 4-3 after it spent two seasons as a struggling 3-4 outfit. McDermott’s Panthers defenses ran a 4-3 look, with Frazier’s groups in Minnesota and Tampa Bay doing the same.
Fired after three seasons with the Vikings, Frazier elevated the Bucs to the No. 10 defense last season. However, Tampa Bay did not exercise the option for a third year with Frazier once it canned Lovie Smith in 2016.
Leslie Frazier In Running For Bills’ DC Job
The Bills named Sean McDermott as Rex Ryan‘s successor and are now in the process of determining who will be McDermott’s top defensive assistant. While the team has discussed bringing Panthers linebackers coach Al Holcomb to Buffalo as DC, Leslie Frazier‘s name is in the mix as well.
Frazier has emerged as the “name to watch” in this hiring process, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). The 57-year-old Frazier spent this season coaching the Ravens’ defensive backs.
The former Vikings HC has history with McDermott, with each coach being on Andy Reid‘s staff with the Eagles from 1999-2002. McDermott served as a scouting assistant during Frazier’s Philadelphia tenure, and Frazier coached the Eagles’ DBs during that span. Frazier then moved on to become the Bengals’ DC.
Stints as DC in Minnesota and Tampa Bay sandwiched Frazier’s three-year HC tenure in the Twin Cities. Frazier’s final Bucs’ defense ranked as the league’s No. 10 unit in 2015.
Holcomb worked with McDermott for four years as well, serving as Carolina’s linebackers coach since the 2013 season.